Governments in the Asia-Pacific Region have admitted ballooning problems encountered among its tech savvy citizens.

The alarming addiction to online games and social networking sites by children and adults alike in the Asia-Pacific Region has prompted some governments to impose laws that should help address a worsening problem.

Tech-savvy citizens from the Asia-Pacific, according to a report from Agence France Presse, are becoming more of virtual zombies due to their addiction to social networking and online games.

In key cities of Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and China, scientists and researchers have found that technology addiction are now similar to the abnormal, compulsive behaviours seen in drug addicts and alcoholics.

As one of the most electronically connected societies in Asia, South Korea boasts of internet connections on every city street and one only needs a wifi ready device and the world-wide web is at your finger tips.

In South Korea, where some tragic stories have emanated related to online gaming, authorities are considering a "Cinderella" law that seeks to limit exposure time of children ages 15 and below.

Reports said, the new law would impose a mandatory curfew on children not more than 15 years old and they would not be allowed to use the computer for gaming from between midnight and 6.00 am.

Social networking and the internet are supposed to bring you closer to friends, colleagues, and family, but some tragic stories in South Korea resulted in damaged relationships.

In December, a mother was arrested for allegedly killing her three-year-old son while she was tired from online game-playing. A month before that, a 15-year-old boy committed suicide after killing his own mother for scolding him over his gaming habits.

In May 2010, a 41-year-old South Korean couple were sentenced to two years in jail after he and his wife neglected and left their baby daughter to die of hunger as they were busy raising a virtual child on the Internet.

The South Korean government has estimated the number of web addicts at about two million in a nation with an almost 50 million population.

Authorities this year will offer free software to people at risk in order to limit the time they spend on the virtual world of the internet more than they should.

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